Sweet and Sour Meatballs Over Polenta with Sesame Sauteed Spinach

How is everyone doing? You guys still alive out there? Well you will be after you try this meal! These meatballs with their tangy sauce were spot on. I love meatballs but, lets face it, meatballs can be a bit, lets say…labor intensive. All that mixing and rolling …blah! So when I saw these listed as one of the 30 minute recipes for the month in Cooking Light, I was definitely dubious. Turns out I had no need to be. These are literally the easiest meatballs I have ever made. They only have TWO ingredients. Anyone can handle that! I used a tablespoon cookie scooper to scoop them out and they took no time at all. The scooper already plops them out in a ball shape so it really made a huge time difference.

If you aren’t a heat seeker, don’t be afraid of the amount of sriracha in the recipe. I used the full 2 tablespoons and we didn’t feel any heat at all. Seriously, I could give these to my sister-in-law Kelly who is not big on heat and she would be perfectly comfortable eating them. If you want more heat, just add more.

Now if you’re from the South, you know that polenta is basically just grits. So feel free to sub them here if you want. You could even do mashed potatoes instead! I already had polenta in the pantry so I stuck to the original recipe. When I made the spinach I used 18oz instead of 16oz and it was just enough for 2 people so if you are actually feeding more than 2 people you probably need to double the amount of spinach that the recipe calls for.

Meatballs and Polenta

Ingredients

3 cups unsalted chicken stock (such as Swanson)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup stone-ground polenta

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/4 pounds 93% lean ground turkey

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

Cooking spray

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup unsalted ketchup

2 tablespoons Sriracha (hot chile sauce)

1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

1. Bring stock and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Gradually add polenta, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and polenta is thickened. Add butter, stirring until melted.

2. Combine turkey and sesame oil in a medium bowl. Divide and shape turkey mixture into 20 meatballs. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add meatballs to pan; cook 6 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove meatballs from pan. Add 1/4 cup water and remaining ingredients to pan, stirring with a whisk; bring to a boil. Return meatballs to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until meatballs are done. Serve over polenta.

Sauteed Sesame Spinach

Ingredients

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

16 ounces fresh baby spinach

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Preparation

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add spinach to pan in batches, cooking each batch for 2 minutes or until just beginning to wilt before adding more. Stir in pepper. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.